16th June 2011

Business Think Tank Symposium At SIGGRAPH 2011

siggraph 2011For nearly forty years SIGGRAPH has inspired, educated and influenced the direction of research, production and artistic communities. At SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver this August 7th through 11th, the conference is introducing the SIGGRAPH Symposium: The Business Think Tank. This one-day event on August 7th will bring together leaders to address the past, present and future of the global computer graphics industry.

The Business Think Tank introduces an opportunity for industry leaders and visionaries to discuss issues related to finance, strategy, culture, and creativity in a conversational environment. This full-day event features discussion groups and two enlightening featured speakers intended to spark frank and honest interaction about the industry in the 21st century.

“The intimate, interactive nature of this inaugural Business Think Tank is the ideal forum in which to inspire idea-sharing and problem-solving among some of the visionaries within the global computer graphics community,” says Jill Smolin, SIGGRAPH 2011 Director from 3ality Digital. “This highly interactive day will feature conversations and presentations of industry-specific issues and challenges within our local and global community.”

Planned participants include:

Featured Speakers:

  • Gail Currey, Head of Studio, PDI/DreamWorks
  • Andy Hendrickson, Chief Technology Officer, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Business Session:

  • Victoria Alonso: EVP, VFX and Post Production, Marvel Entertainment, LLC
  • Rory Armes: CEO, Gener8 Digital Media Corp.
  • Dan Glass: EVP, Senior VFX Supervisor, Method Studios
  • Namit Malhotra: CEO, Prime Focus
  • Don McGowan: General Counsel, The Pokémon Company International
  • Marc Weigert: Executive Producer, VFX Supervisor, CEO, Uncharted Territory, LLC

Culture Session:

  • Steve Bocska: CEO, Pug Pharm Productions Inc.
  • Kim Davidson: Co-Founder, CEO, President, Side Effects Software Inc.
  • Warren Franklin: CEO, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc.
  • Jenny Fulle: Founder, Visual Effects Producer, The Creative Cartel
  • Shannon Gans: CEO, Co-Founder, New Deal Studios, Inc.

This Symposium is a new initiative for SIGGRAPH, and is intended to accommodate approximately 200 people who are on the business side of the industry. They might be artists who are now company leaders or leaders who work with artists. They are the people who look to each other and other leaders to define and run the industry.

Registration for the SIGGRAPH Symposium: The Business Think Tank is now available – space for this event is very limited, so register soon if you plan on attending.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2011 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Careers, Education, Events, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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